The latest news and information regarding St. Louis car accidents. Car accident attorney Christopher Hoffmann provides useful tips on what to do if you are involved a Missouri auto accident and how you can work to prevent such accidents from happening.

02/07/2014

Rear End Auto Collisions

Rear end collisions are becoming more and more common on American roadways as the percentage of inattentive drivers continues to rise. While dangerous for drivers and passengers in typical vehicles, these types of accidents can be catastrophic for a motorcyclist. They are at risk of being rear ended while stopped at a traffic signal or slowing down while out on the road. If you or someone close to you has recently been hurt by a rear end collision, there is a high probability that you deserve compensation. Contact a St. Louis auto accident attorney to help you figure out if and how the other drive’s negligence caused your bodily harm.

Rear-End Motorcycle Accidents

One of the reasons for the high risk of being rear ended on your bike has to do with deceleration. A motorcycle is able to drop its speed quicker than a passenger vehicle, simply by downshifting. Many don’t need to employ their brake, which means no brake light illumination as they start to slow down. With that absence of a brake light a driver behind them may not realize that the motorcycle has slowed before it is too late. This is such a large problem for motorcycle enthusiasts that manufacturers have developed a device that allows the motorcycle to perceive sudden slowdown and will flash warning lights twice per second to ensure that the driver behind them has ample time to react. This will automatically do for a motorcyclist what most organizations already advocate, flash the brake lights during deceleration.

Inattentive drivers are also a main cause of rear end collisions with a motorcycle. When you factor in the small size of a bike with a vehicle driver whose has their eyes on their latest text message, you can imagine how quickly such an accident can occur. These types of collisions can occur either when stopped, or moving in traffic. There is little a motorcyclist can do to protect himself from an inattentive driver other than attempt to be more vigilant. With the growing rate of texting while driving accidents across the nation, you should speak with a Missouri motorcycle accident attorney if you believe this was the cause of your accident. Like drunk driving, drivers guilty of text driving need to be sent a message that there is zero tolerance for their offense.

As scary as it is to image a passenger vehicle hitting the back end of a motorcycle, imagine the severity of injury if that vehicle is an 80,000 pound semi truck. This was the case for a Missouri motorcyclist who was awarded a $6.5 million settlement from a trucking company after one of their drivers hit him from behind.

St. Louis Auto Accident Lawyer

Whatever the circumstance, it is important to bear in mind that in almost all rear end collisions the defendant will be found at least partially at fault. Any chance of defense is often easily rebutted by stating that had he been traveling at a safe distance from the motorcycle he would have had time to react properly. For this reason it is important that you bring the facts of your case to a St. Louis car accident attorney for review.